# Plain Language Summary: Define the Mission Act

This bill requires the President to create and submit a detailed report to Congress within 30 days that explains America's strategy for involvement in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. The report must be developed with input from the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State, and it needs to answer some fundamental questions that Congress wants answered: What are we trying to accomplish in Ukraine? How long will it take? How much will it cost? And what are we measuring success against?

The report must spell out what specific American interests are at stake in the conflict and then identify concrete objectives that need to be achieved to protect those interests. For each objective, the President has to estimate how long it will take, explain what benchmarks or milestones will show whether progress is being made, and detail how many resources—including money, equipment, and personnel—will be needed. The report also needs to include what European NATO countries are planning to contribute to Ukraine's security over the next year, and assess how Russia's control of Europe's natural gas supply might affect the ability to resolve the conflict.

The bill specifies that the strategy must be aimed at achieving a cease-fire agreement between Russia and Ukraine, but importantly, it cannot be dependent on the United States funding Ukraine's reconstruction after the conflict ends. Most of the report should be available to the public in unclassified form, though classified information can be included in a separate section if needed for national security reasons. The report goes to key congressional committees and to any member of Congress who requests it.

Essentially, this bill is Congress asking the President to show its work—to clearly explain what America is doing in Ukraine, why, what success looks like, and what it will cost. It's a demand for transparency and a defined strategy rather than open-ended involvement.